ISIS Claims Responsibility for NYC Truck Attack

Declaring the NY truck attacker "an animal", President Trump declared the United States to be hitting ISIS "10 times harder" after the Tuesday terror attack, saying the U.S. is getting revenge for the attacks and "we hit them like you folks won't believe".

Sayfullo Saipov, the terrorist truck driver who mowed down people on a 20 block path on a lower Manhattan bike path, demanded that an ISIS flag be displayed in his hospital room and has been celebrating the deadly attack, according to criminal complaint that was filed.

"The grace of Allah, the operation instilled fear in crusader America, prompting them to increase security measures and intensify actions against immigrants to America", IS said in the al-Naba article, according to SITE.

The complaint also said that Saipov specifically chose Halloween for the attack date because he thought "there would be more civilians on the street". The charges included providing material support to ISIS, violence and destruction of motor vehicles said Joon H. Kim, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY.

He was allegedly in possession of three knives and thousands of IS propaganda images and dozens of videos that showed IS fighters killing prisoners. "They will pay a big price for every attack on us!" The suspect drove him an hour to his hotel, helped with his bags and "seemed absolutely normal", he said.

Saipov was shot after he stepped out of the truck after attacking pedestrians.

Trump's strong statement came after the Islamic State terror group claimed that the attack on October 31 was carried out on its behalf by a domestically radicalised Uzbek immigrant to the US.

After a gunman shot dead 58 people last month in Las Vegas, IS claimed the killer was also one of its "soldiers" but the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it found no such links with the accused, Stephen Paddock.

For his heinous crimes, President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for the death penalty.

But the president appeared to reverse course a day later, tweeting that "statistically that process takes much longer than going through the Federal system".

"There is also something appropriate about keeping him in the home of the terrible crime he committed". Federal prosecutors could also potentially seek the death penalty.

Sen. Lindsay Graham, a Republican, on Thursday repeated his criticism of the Justice Department for charging Saipov in the courts rather than treating him as an enemy combatant.

Of the hundreds of detainees held at Guantanamo since the September 11, 2001, attacks on NY and Washington, just eight have been convicted in military trials or admitted guilt by plea bargains, according to Human Rights watch.

Saipov is a legal resident of the United States and came to U.S. in 2010 from Uzbekistan.

Saipov has been charged with providing material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization and violence and destruction of motor vehicles.

The second can be punishable by death, but a capital punishment case would be extremely rare in NY, which has abolished the death penalty at the state level. "I believe this is an individual who should rot in prison for the rest of his life". After entering the country, he reportedly went from OH to Tampa, Florida and then to Paterson, New Jersey, where he lived with his wife and three children for several years. "What are you gonna do?" said Ted Wright, 43, en route to work.